Chapter 2: [STAGE 0] Commencing the Tutorial

Chapter 2: [STAGE 0] Commencing the Tutorial

-Boom!

As my eyes flickered open, a deluge of bricks tumbled down before me with a resounding crash.

Huh?

This puzzled exclamation slipped out as a figure from behind propelled me forcefully onto my stomach.

What the hell...!

I attempted to swivel my head to identify my assailant, but...

-Boom!

Before I managed, another explosion, trailed by a massive tremor, engulfed me. It felt as though a bomb had detonated just inches from my face. Startled, I flattened myself even more against the ground.

Soon, the tremors dwindled and the ringing in my ears began to abate. I gingerly raised my head to examine my surroundings. What was going on?

Before me stretched a colossal brick fortification. Fires raged sporadically with plumes of smoke billowing out, cries and screams echoing all around.

The fortification wall adjacent to me was dissolving, as if liquefied by intense heat. Evidently, something akin to a bomb had gone off.

What on earth is happening...?

With a fearful mutter, I scanned the scene.

Individuals, donned in blood-drenched armor, scurried in all directions.

Cannons mounted on the fortification walls spewed fire in repetitive salvos, while people frantically brandished swords and loosed arrows over the walls.

What threat lay beyond those walls warranting such desperate retaliation? Hesitantly, I craned my neck to see.

And beyond the walls were,

...!

Monsters.

Skreee-!

Beasts resembling gargantuan spiders, significantly larger than humans, swarmed over the fortifications in a relentless wave, their chilling cries reverberating in the air.

There had to be hundreds, no, thousands of them.

Incredulous, I stood frozen.

What on earth is this?

Is this some sort of dream? Or a hallucination triggered by something I ate...?

You can deny the reality all you want, but isnt that a bit clich, Your Highness?

A grumbling voice emerged from behind me. It mustve belonged to the person who had pushed me to the ground. I spun around, dazed.

There he was, a familiar young man.

"...Hmm?"

A remarkably handsome face looming close to mine in the midst of this horrifying battlefield only added to my disorientation.

The proximity was too overwhelming. I wished hed give me some breathing room.

Beneath his shimmering blond hair, his bright blue eyes sparkled. His muscular frame was evident beneath his leather armor.

He bore an uncanny resemblance to a protagonist. Yes, just like a protagonist, but...

Hold on.

"...Lucas?"

Unconsciously, I found myself pointing at the striking man.

The resemblance was uncanny. He looked exactly like Lucas, the protagonist of <Protect the Empire>, the game I had been engrossed in just a little while ago.

The blond young man looked taken aback.

"So, you finally remembered my name. And here I thought youd forgotten me, despite my faithful service as your knight escort.

Uh... what?

Really, Lucas?

Wait a moment, if thats true... Does this mean Im in...

-Boom!

Once more, something careened in, causing a section of the fortification to crumble. I let out a scream and rolled on the ground. Somebody, please save me!

My screams of agony echoed in the air as I writhed on the ground. Please, someone, save me!

Lucas, his teeth clenched, rushed over and hoisted me up with force.

"Since youve likely forgotten again, let me remind you! Were up against the Black Spider Legion! Two hundred heavily armored siege units and nine hundred close-combat assault units! Our forward base is on the brink of collapse!"

"Uh-uh, uhhhhhh."

I was so overwhelmed I could barely articulate a response.

The Black Spider Legion was a breed of monster from "Defend the Empire". They were notorious for ruthlessly tormenting players from mid-game onwards.

Lucas issued a growl as his gaze swept over the fortress wall.

"But these damn creatures dont function at sunset! The sun will set in about 30 minutes! How many times have I told you to remain inside the base buildings then...!"

It dawned on me then that the bombardment we were enduring was the siege attack from the Black Spider Legion.

-Boom!

-Crash!

Sparks flew in every direction, walls melted away, and the soldiers on the ramparts fell one after another, blood spraying everywhere.

"Damn it, this way!"

Lucas practically hoisted me up and dragged me into the base.

Despite the scorched and crumbling buildings within the base, it was a stark improvement from the nightmare outside.

After gently setting me down indoors, Lucas bellowed.

"Stay here until sunset! Dont you dare step outside! Understood?"

"Uh-uh, yeah..."

I somehow managed a response.

"Thanks, Lucas..."

"...?"

***

The gusts howling across the city walls were frigid.

They swept across my face, a bone-chilling winter wind.

And the wind of the night. Coldness was expected, but there was an additional element.

"..."

Gradually, I took in my surroundings.

Death.

Death was ubiquitous. Monster carcasses were piled beneath the wall, and human bodies strewn on top.

The aura of death radiated a cold far sharper than the winter or night.

"Lucas, whats the time now, and where are we?"

I asked, standing at the edge of the wall, struggling to suppress the nausea brought on by the overpowering stench of blood.

Lucas, stationed behind me, appeared confused by my question, but he responded distinctly.

"It is the final day of February in the year 649 of the Empire. We are at the forward base of the fortress city of Crossroad."

"...So tomorrow would be the first day of March, 649."

"Thats correct."

I gritted my teeth.

Year 649 of the Empire, March 1st. Monster frontline base.

A very familiar time and place.

Why wouldnt it be? Over the last six months, while engrossed in Protect the Empire, I had to play the tutorial at this time and place hundreds of times.

So thats why the situation felt so eerily familiar...

I had conquered Protect the Empire on Hell mode with Ironman mode activated.

Ironman mode permitted only a single save slot throughout the game.

And the game automatically overwrote progress onto that slot. This meant that save scumming was out of the question.

But what if the entire game situation became an insurmountable challenge?

You had to abandon the current game and begin anew.

Viewers nicknamed this process of restarting from the beginning a new Earth or a new Empire. I maintained a tally of the number of restarts.

And the time I completed the game was on the 742nd Earth.

Which meant I had failed 741 times, and replayed the tutorial map 742 times. I couldnt help but know the tutorial like the back of my hand.

Tomorrow, the prologue of Protect the Empire, the tutorial stage kicks off.

The tutorial is straightforward.

It introduces the world and the games control system, and...

Everyone except Lucas meets their end.

"..."

I had glossed over the storyline hundreds of times, but recalling it now, I remembered everything.

Simultaneously, I also recognized who I was.

"So, I am Ash."

"Pardon me?"

"My name. Ash. Ash Born Hater Everblack." (TL Note: His nickname in Korean is and in English we just call them haters. Much like Taylor Swift has a song about haters, theres a Korean song about them too: /watch?v=3s1jaFDrp5M)

Lucas gazed at me as though I was stating something self-evident, but I was deadly serious. I gritted my teeth and tugged at my hair.

"Why did it have to be this despicable character of all people?!"

The Empires maniac, the Third Prince.

The most incompetent leader who foolishly dragged the majority of the fortress citys forces to the forward base, leading to their complete wipeout.

And, the character who endures the most horrifying end in the tutorial.

Ash Born Hater Everblack.

In the main game, hes a minor character, a throwaway extra who dies as soon as he appears.

I was yanked into this game world, and of all people, I have to be this bastard?

That was the exact moment I grasped the identity of my self.

-Ding!

A familiar, albeit cheap, sound effect echoed, and a transparent window materialized before my eyes.

[STAGE 0]

Objective: Survive the monster onslaught

Reward: ???

It was a system window I had seen countless times before.

Indeed, it was identical to the interface of Protect the Empire, the game I was immersed in just moments ago.

"..."

Thats when it truly hit me.

I had indeed been thrust into the world of the game,

And this game was an absolute piece of shit.

"Uh, Your Highness. Are you okay?"

Lucas gazed at me with concern as I blankly stared into the void.

"...Lucas."

"Yes, Your Highness."

I rigidly turned my head towards Lucas, and I whispered in a hushed tone.

It was a sentence delivered with passion, sincerity, and intensity.

"Were fucked, fuck."